Flashback Friday: Fitness Edition

Well friends, it’s that time of the week. The time when I trade my dress pants and heels in for flannel and slippers.

Not to mention, I’m at my mom’s!! That furry thing next to me is our dog Archie. After such a busy week, I am definitely looking forward to my weekend home :D

Got my day started off this morning with Levels 2 & 3 of the 30 Day Shred. It was tough! The weight part isn’t as bad, but the things like plank ups, squat thrusts and lunge jumps kill me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again don’t underestimate a workout DVD! You get what you put in, and I was literally dripping sweat all over my mat by the time I was done.

I spent all my spare time this morning jumping around my living room, so breakfast was a speedy affair. Looks lovely, no?

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

cinnamon

banana

peanut butter

homemade granola

Aaalll mixed up into a big ole’ mess. Was pretty satisfying actually!!

Lunch was a delicious mix of leftovers.

Last night, I added tofu and frozen broccoli to the leftover spaghetti squash + sauteed veggies in a laughing cow/cottage cheese alfredo sauce. It was reallyreally good!

I hit the road to my mom’s house immediately after work. Exactly 90 minutes I arrived at the door to the smell of roast chicken!

Dessert was a slice of my Nana’s homemade banana bread with a swipe of butter.

Although, we all agreed it was more of an orange walnut bread. My nana puts orange in everything, even her chocolate chip cookies! Silly nanas… :P

Flashback Friday

This Flashback Friday is going to be a little different. Instead of flashing back to old pictures of myself, I want to take a look back at old workouts. Okay, this may be really boring for you, but there is a point, I swear! Here’s what I was doing in 2009:

First, I should point out that this was all done on 0% incline. I only started running in September 2008 with the Couch to 5k program. Last winter, I was just trying to tack on to the mileage and speed I built during that program. I usually averaged around 6.0 mph at 0% incline. Anything above that was considered “high intensity” for me.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I’ve returned to the treadmill this winter. When I was running outside in the summer, I was so focused on 5k times and getting up to 10 miles, I never noticed a huge difference in my running strength.

Imagine my surprise when I hopped back on the treadmill this winter, only to pound out 6.5 mph + speeds with relative ease. I got faster without even really trying! All it took was continuously running and sticking to it. In other words, getting the mileage under my feet.

More than that, all this summer, I felt like I was slowslowslow compared to all the other "real” runners out there. But seeing these numbers reminds me how far I’ve come in my speed, and that the only person I should be comparing myself to is…myself! For comparison’s sake, here’s a similar workout I’m doing these days:

I think it’s important to log these types of things so we can go back and see how we’ve improved. It’s easy to look at someone who’s running 7 miles every morning, or lifting twice the weight as you, and feel inadequate. But everyone starts somewhere!!

Question of the Day: Have you noticed any improvements in fitness? I have to add, I also did my first toe push ups today!!! I haven’t tried them in a while, as I thought I was just always doomed to never being strong enough. But Jillian got some legitimate toe push ups out of me today, and I was grinning ear to ear :D Who says working out can’t be fun??

Your growth is so impressive! I wish I had logged stuff like that last year to see my changes too. All I have is one 5k I ran and the time written down for that. Maybe I’ll start a fitness journal? Hmm.. sounds like a March goal for me =)

I did notice an improvement in my upper arm strength after doing yoga regularly, as well as in my flexibility. It’s all about doing it consistently and challenging yourself.

How fun to look back on such improvements and WOOOOOT on the big-girl pushup! :-)

I had improved but after one (silly) doc kiboshed my longer more intense workouts I’ve slid back. The good news: I get to build it back up and there’s no big rush! Hey a calorie burned is a calorie earned yes?

oh girl love the pics and the Dessert was a slice of my Nana’s homemade banana bread with a swipe of butter.–looks like MY nanna’s nanna bread :) but she’s been in heaven for 10+ yrs now so i need a slice of your nana’s, vegan or not, I want it anyawy!

Nice progress! The great thing about running is that as long as you keep doing it, the improvement come just from an endurance standpoint. So many times we focus on speed for races and the end result, that we don’t notice how easy the first part of the run has become. It’s always good to reflect.

I try so hard not to compare, and I really try hard not to say that a certain pace I run is “slow”, because I know how I feel when I read about someone who ran an 8.5 minute mile and was disappointed at the pace – when to me that is very fast.

And Yay for man-style pushups! There is no reason you can have a really strong upper body :D

Cottage cheese + granola + banana = my favourite combination. I always forget about cottage cheese until I see it on blogs! Need to pick some up ASAP.

I love hearing how people have transformed their fitness levels! I remember the first dance class I took- I had to keep taking breaks and was SO sore and tired for days after. Within a couple of months, I was taking 4-5 classes a week with no problem. I liked to compare it by looking at planks- initially, I could barely hold a plank for 30 seconds. At the peak of my class schedule, I was able to do it for several minutes easily. Nothing beats feeling strong/fit! Though I am pretty sure that I am just not built to be flexible… When I started breakdancing, it was like starting from scratch all over again. 2 hours of holding your whole body weight up with one arm = killer.

I can really see the increase in my strength and flexibility when I work on those two things consistently. Running….I don’t know….I was doing good about increasing my endurance, as I got up to 7 miles last fall, but those 7 miles took me over an hour and twenty minutes. Sometimes I feel like I will NEVER get faster. I would love to run 10 min miles with ease but right now it’s a struggle enough to keep up 11. I have my half mary in August and I know I’ll complete it, but it might take a long long time!

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Welcome!

My name is Susan, I'm a 20-something living in Atlantic Canada and this is my blog about... me. I used to blog about food and fitness, but that all changed in June 2011 when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. After six months of chemotherapy, I was declared cancer-free in January 2012. I now write about anything and everything as I stumble through my post-cancer world. I'm a trained journalist currently working as a writer/researcher. I also have a background in personal fitness training and nutrition. Welcome to my piece of the internet!
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